On page 3 of the booklet, Paul is shown sitting behind a desk with a nameplate that reads "I Was". The nameplate could also be read as "I You Was" or "I Was You," perhaps suggesting that Paul had disappeared and been replaced by a double. Also, the British flags behind Paul are crossed as they would be in a military funeral.

A number of conspiracy theorists have pointed to a strange image appears in the booklet of Magical Mystery Tour. On the left is the image as it appears in the booklet, but on the right is the image rotated ninety degree clockwise and blurred slightly.

Then there's the whole business about the word "Beatles" on the cover of Magical Mystery Tour revealing a secret phone number. As Rolling Stone pointed out, it's not exactly clear what that phone number is supposed to be. It could be "231-7438, 834-7135, 536-0195, 510-6643, 546-3663, 624-7125, no telling what city, maybe London" [3] If you turn the album cover upside down and hold it in front of a mirror you can see the numbers 8341735, which is a stretch because the threes, the seven and the five (could it be a two?) are backward. If you simply hold the album cover upside-down, the numbers could be 5371438. And what about the area code? ANYway, supposedly when a person dialed this number they would receive information about Paul's death, or the person would be able to take a trip to "Magical Beatle Mystery Island"—or perhaps even speak to Paul in the hereafter. Stories abounded about the strange responses that callers received from the party on the other end of the line. According to Philip Norman in Shout! The Beatles in Their Generation, this phone number actually belonged to a journalist for The Guardian who was nearly driven crazy by the numerous phone calls from people hoping to connect with the late Paul McCartney. [4]

This "clue" is more apparent when the record is played at 45 rpm (using the terms of outdated technology, of course), as John's voice sounds as if it has been slowed down. Actually, John was saying "cranberry sauce," which is much more apparent on the "take 7 and edit piece" version of the song that appeared on Anthology II.

Paul explained "That's John's humor. John would say something totally out of sync, like 'cranberry sauce.' If you don't realize that John's apt to say something like 'cranberry sauce' when he feels like it, then you start to hear a funny little word there, and you think aha!" [5]